


Greetings from a Dead Man

by DCJoKeRHS



Series: IronFam [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF Ana Jarvis, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, Edwin Jarvis is a Sweetheart, Either something like that happened or I Will Lose what Little Sanity I Have Left, Endgame? What Endgame?, Fluff, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Mentions of Cancer, Nick Fury Knows All, Nick Fury is Tony Stark's Godparent, Peggy Carter is Tony Stark's Godparent, Peter got everyone to be friends again and they are all happy!, Who the Heck is Thanos?, mentions of domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 05:56:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20616113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DCJoKeRHS/pseuds/DCJoKeRHS
Summary: Bucky found some tapes.The Team watches them.





	Greetings from a Dead Man

They find the videos when visiting the Stark Mansion.

They’re in a box that Bucky found under Jarvis’ bed, the room still the same as it had been whilst the man was alive, yet not with plastic layers holding back the dust Tony himself would clean away every month.

“They’re for you,” Bucky says, “To be watched alone, or with company.”

Tony’s hands tremble and Rhodey has to wrap an arm around his shoulders, Peter thankfully outside with Harley, Scott, Clint and the kids, the wunderkind who’d reunited them all kept away from Tony’s inevitable breakdown.

“I…” Tony carefully takes the box, running a hand over the top of the cardboard container.

They give him his peace as he decides, just watching, ready to react should anything happen.

“Well… Keep the kids elsewhere and we can watch it, together,” Tony says, “I don’t want to watch alone. I can’t be alone, Jarvis was too great a-and Steve…”

Steve takes the box, grabbing Tony’s hand firmly.

“It’s OK, he was a dad to you, you can make any calls and we’ll follow,” he says.

Tony nods, a small smile coming to his face.

“Maybe let Peter stay,” he says, “Let him meet his mentor’s mentor.”

Steve nods, the group arranging things, Bruce fetching blankets and Thor getting Loki to help with getting the children tired enough to head to bed early, at about 8:30.

By nine, Natasha’s made a vat full of hot choc, the mugs shared round as the adults are gathered around the TV, the old VCR tapes set up with the box in Tony’s lap opposite the TV, Pepper on his right and Peter on his left. The bots have been brought out of the lab and Butterfingers is in charge of putting the tapes in the player, so Tony can see every moment.

Picking out the first one, Tony runs a finger over the label, Jarvis’ old cursive cleanly written on it, before he hands it to his third eldest.

Butterfingers is careful about it, the TV lighting up with the high-contrast image of Edwin Jarvis, the butler moving back from the camera with a small smile, sitting on a stool he’d set up before filming.

“I don’t really know how to start,” Jarvis says, “So let me say it’s the twenty-eighth of May, nineteen-seventy-three and I saw these tapes in the shops whilst on errands and bought them three months after, for these.”

Taking a breath, Jarvis looks away, hands rubbing on his trousers, “Tony’s three and he’s already so brilliant that Ana has told me repeatedly that he’s lucky his fame stops her from trying to officially adopt him as a Jarvis, though obviously we’d never do that, for the sheer protection he gets from his own.”

Jarvis visibly relaxes, words spilling from his lips.

“Tony, these are certainly going to be addressed to you, and I want to say that your life is going to be hard, but every second of it is going to be worth it. You’re the son Ana and I have never been able to have and Howard may ignore you with how much he drowns in his work, but I bet he has at least _ some _ emotions towards you.” A small chuckle rumbles from the brown-featured butler’s chest, “You have so much to look forward to and so many opportunities, I’m lucky to be a part of your life.”

In the background, a bell rings.

“Well, it seems like I am requested. Bye.”

Jarvis stands, moving to turn the camera off, though then it cuts to him turning it on again, still on the same tape.

“A month ago, I made the first video for you. This month, I thought I might include Ana.”

A woman with white streaks in her hair comes into frame, waving, Jarvis quickly grabbing her the chair from by his desk.

“Hi, Tony!” she smiles, “I don’t know what will ever happen in future, so I’m going to open with the fact that I love you _ so much _ and I may have to deal with your toddler-sized sulkings and tantrums, but at least I’m better that that drill-sergeant of a Nurse you’ve been given. Frankly, I’ll be happiest when Maria gets some sense into her head to fire the blasted woman.”

“She is _ definitely _ not getting to join us for these,” Jarvis says, voice dry, yet amused.

“Well, boy do I have some tales!” Ana replies, “Ed, be a dear and fetch me some scotch, a drop, I’m going to need it.”

“I’ll put it in some tea,” Jarvis hums, going out of sight.

Ana smiles, looking over the camera, before turning back to it.

“So, I don’t know if you’re ever going to be told, but I distinctly remember your first word being “Java”. We’d been setting you and your family breakfast, when you’d banged the table with your spoon and yelled “java” as loud as you possibly could. Howard, of course, was caught off guard, Edwin had been serving him coffee and nearly dropped the whole pot! Maria laughed first; she had been reading on how to raise you properly and was expecting it. We have no idea if you were copying your father or trying to call for Edwin, it was hilarious and beautiful!”

She pauses.

“Of course, your Nurse at the time wasn’t the best, despite her apparent “resume” and skills. Edwin and I had to do a lot of that woman’s duties whilst she went off god _ knows _ where, so I was pleased to see her leave after you threw one of your toy hammers at her head.”

Jarvis returns at that point, the video ending soon after as Ana notices the time and both depart for bed.

The next few videos are all along the same vein; Edwin and Ana Jarvis telling stories.

At one point, Steve and Bucky both sit up as a familiar, greying brunette joins Ana.

“Edwin’s working at the moment and I’ve told Peggy about these, so I thought she might want to join in, whilst she’s taking a break,” Ana explains.

“Tony turned four today, of course I’d barter for the time to see my godson and drag his godfather with me. Fury’s such a workaholic, I _ swear_…” she sighs.

“Oh, you _ know _ he’s going to try and bring the latest in his long line of feline friends to visit,” Ana chuckles, “He did that three days after being told he was a godfather and when Tony was taken to visit him.”

Tony doesn’t care much about the looks that gets him, but he lets Peter snuggle closer…

Indeed, during the next video there’s a familiar “What are you doing?!” as Peggy’s partway through relating a tale about Tony offering her a flower and being much more polite and frank than Steve had _ ever _ been.

“It was so sweet! I’ve still got the flower in my hat and I’m pressing it overnight tonight!” Peggy laughs, “My niece is half as behaved and she and Tony argued like anything when they met!”

“What about?!” Ana demands, “You haven’t told me about that!”

“Vicky is a little demoness in the making and I absolutely _ adore _ her,” Peggy chuckles, “I took Tony to see her yesterday and they both ended up arguing over who would be the knight and who would be the princess. Tony ended up as the princess.”

“Oh! I wish I’d seen that!” Ana grins.

“Oh, it was entertaining for all of ten minutes, but then Tony got distracted by trying to see why the TV didn’t work. Fixed it too, but by that time Vicky was annoyed and they ended up having another argument over knights and princesses, before naptime and I brought him back.”

“I’ll have to take him to visit her more,” Ana hums.

“That’s cute, but doesn’t answer my question.”

Fury finally comes into frame, reflected in the mirror at Jarvis’s small grooming area, rectangular mirror reflecting the young head and shoulders of the current Shield Director, both eyes fully intact, as he leans on the doorway.

“We’re recording something to Tony! When he’s older!”

Huffing, Fury comes into direct view, peaking round into the camera.

“Honestly, if you end up anything like your Father, I will l punch you, if you don’t reach fifty, I’ll revive you, then punch you, ‘cause I ain’t dying ‘til I’m a hundred and you’re _ not _ dying before me, idiot.”

He leaves right after that.

“Blackmail!” Clint cheers from his seat behind Tony.

Natasha hits the back of his head, as the current vlog ends.

The warm, motherly video is damaged, by the burning fury in Jarvis’ hands when he returns, a glass of scotch already in a tumbler and Jarvis’ tie undone.

“Howard had no right,” he says, “You are a _ beautiful _ human being and just because you build a circuit board and corrected some of his designs does not make you a‒ a _ freak_!” Jarvis spits the word, face twisted in fury, "If anything, Howard’s the freak for even daring to _ think _ of hitting you!”

He picks up the tumbler, puts it down again right after, as his face shifts, eyes going to heaven, then to the side, as though he was trying to blink back tears.

“You’re my little Anthony, the child I’ve safeguarded for four, _ glorious _ years and Howard is anything but right in his drunken assumptions!” Jarvis’ hands tremble as he sits. “And a week after you were kidnapped! For what will probably _ not _ be the last time! I knew the world wouldn’t be so kind, given your father’s reputation being forced onto your shoulders, but _ this_…” he adjusts himself, straightening his jacket, “Whoever is your ally now, your lover, your friend, I don’t care, if _ anything _ happens to you, if I am still alive, I will _ personally _ ruin them!”

The protective proclamation and heavy warning strike the Revengers with power, Steve eyes even going to his lap in guilt.

“You are _ everything_, not just to me. You don’t need to be a Mini-Captain for that. Howard can take his thick-headed obsession with finding Captain Rogers and shove it up his cheating arse!”

Tony’s eyes are glistening as Jarvis takes a breath, composing himself.

“Just because he says so many words to put you down, doesn’t mean you should let him,” he says, voice turning soft, “Even with him as your Father, he has taken your trust, like so many others, and steps on it. You, however, don’t. You’re the opposite, which makes me _ so scared _ yet _ so hopeful_, because you’ll happily give your time and money to anyone needing you, even when you, yourself, have been given so little in return…”

Jarvis wipes away the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

“I remember this time, when you were no less than two years old. Howard had taken your Captain bear away and I had to hide your Bucky bear so that wouldn’t get taken, too. I gave it back to you, but, three days later, when I was brewing your mother tea, I remember, despite them being your only toy left, you went up to your mother, climbed up onto the chair beside her and said “we can share.” Jarvis’ eyes fix on the camera, soft, swirling emotions shining bright, “Maria asked what you meant, so you held up your bear and said “we can share Bucky!” with such a wide smile… Of course, your mother pulled you into her lap and said “we can share this way.” But… Seeing you, barely into life already willing to give, when you were already forced to pretend to have so much, that is more of a carrot on a stick…” Jarvis smiles, “It gives me hope, that you’ll change so much, work out so much that the future won’t be as cold as it otherwise is.”

He looks at his hands, before turning the camera off.

Tony takes a moment, as the VHS player stops, whirring quietly, before ejecting the tape.

After a moment, he takes a breath, hand going to where his arc reactor rests.

“Well… Looks like things are going to get a little more fun from here!” he jokes, wiping away a tear as Butterfingers returns the first video to him, Tony handing over the second after putting away the first…

For a time, it resumes the happy trail of the first one, though there is a subtle, underlying tension as any mention of Howard bleeds away.

There’s a kitchen one, too. From one of the times Ana taught Tony to cook when he was six, a spoon in Tony’s hand as he’s using a stool to look at the countertop and the boiling pot on the stove.

“What are you making?” Jarvis asks, soft silvers and wide hazels looking towards the tape recorder.

“We told you a moment ago!” little Tony says, sending Ana into a fit of laughter.

“Well, I _ am _ filming this for future you,” Jarvis hums.

Tony lights up.

“Cool!” he grins.

“Anything to say?”

“Uh, no!” younger Tony shakes his head, “Because I know I’m gonna be _ great _! Just like Mama wants me to be!”

Their Tony buries his head in his hands.

“Were you?” Peter asks, as they watch them cook a bit more.

Tony shakes his head.

“I don’t think so,” he replies, softly.

“Yeah, but I know so,” Pepper replies, equally as soft, a hand resting over her stomach…

The next tape starts, showing Tony fiddling with something in his room.

“What you doing, Tony?” Jarvis asks, younger Tony looking up.

The room itself is visible, no toys in sight, only books in a bookcase, and Tony’s bed neatly made. It looked more like a guest room with a few bits of Captain America merch and a paper-covered study table than a little boy’s room.

“Makin’ a robot,” Tony replies, looking back to his work, “The papers finally got bored about me buildin’ an engine, so I don’t have to go out that much anymore.”

“What about school?”

Little Tony shrugs.

“I got put in fifth grade ‘cause I tested for third grade when I was five, but then I started finding the work too easy, so I jumped two grades. Mom says I should slow down and make friends, but if I try that everyone’s too slow and I get sent to the headteacher’s office more.”

“Wow.”

“Uh-huh. So, I’m tryin’ to build a friend! An’ Dogs aren’t as complicated as humans, so if I build a Dog, Dad won’ get mad about the mess a pet would make and Mom would be happy that I’d have a friend!”

“That’s really cool, Tony! Sounds like a lot of work, though.”

Tony shakes his head.

“I made a toy robot about a month ago. Dad wasn’t happy, but if I make a dog an’ get Mom and Ana to help me with sewing on the furry outer-body, then that means I won’ have to try and make them more durable!”

“Core! That’s pretty cool.”

“Uh-huh!” Tony says, “You better stop recording with that camera and hide it, though; Dad’s picky about how I act on film and he’d probably destroy that.”

“OK, er, bye, future-Tony!” Jarvis says, laughing softly, the recording going to black, switching to the next video.

Their Tony pauses it, having to take a moment.

“You were building a pet?!” Peter asks, awed.

Tony chuckles.

“I _ built _ a pet. Didn’t manage to get hold of it’s fur though,” Tony replies, “Plus, they were pretty basic, like the shop-bought ones we can get now.”

“But it was, what? 1976? Robots in those days were pretty chunky and you only recently had the palletizer robot. To build a localized, self-sufficient robot, like some of the ones we have today, that would be‒ _ OH MY GOD _! What happened to them?”

Tony half-shrugs.

“Howard. Overheard me talking to Ana and said Starks don’t play with toys and threw them into scrap.”

“_Bastard_,” Peter curses.

“My grandparents were married, but _ sentiments_.”

“Language,” Steve grumbles, leaning back and putting a hand over his face.

Ana stopped appearing in videos, though there is one, final shot of her.

She’s lost all her hair, including her brows. There is an IV in her arm and she’s laid under heaps of blankets. A small, brown bear is at her bedside in an army uniform, holding a get well card.

“OK, it’s rolling.”

The woman in the bed smiles, looking softly at the camera.

“Tony can see this, at some point?”

“As well as any friends he gets, it’ll go with the others.”

Ana giggles.

“Exactly like you told me, five years ago,” she says, laughing lightly. “I wonder how he’s doing in the future, if he’s OK… But that’s beside the point. Hey, Penny, could you help me sit up a bit better, please.”

Penny appears on camera, helping Ana sit up against the many pillows on her hospital bed.

“So, Doctor said I’ve got… Four or five days,” Ana says, “Though, I’m _ fine_, especially with Ed’s visits and your friend, Bucky, with me.”

Ana motions to the bear.

“I think, the few things I want to say are all simple in theory, but always need a little help in practise… Especially with parents like yours.”

Ana looks at the camera, as though she is looking directly at Tony.

“I may not be your biological Auntie, or your Godmother, like Penny here, but we have everything that _ counts _ . Like your big, strong heart. Howard may be comparing you always to Mr Righteous Captain all the time, but he _ completely _ overlooks _ you _ , who has much more heart and character than the guy who decided he’d wait until he was fed up enough with being Captain America to be Steve Rogers again and save a bunch of people. Yes, PR is good in some sense, like all the _ public relations _ your Mother basically abandons you to do. Howard has really torn into her, sadly, and I’m glad she at least spends _ some _ positive time with you… The bitch.”

“Ana!” Peggy exclaims.

“I’m a dying Lady! I have the right to reveal my foreign blood and say _ a pokolba azzal a nővel_! Honestly, it was mostly us Jarvises and you raising our kedves fiam and even then Howard only loves the _ idea _ of a son, not the actual flesh-and-blood child! As does Maria! Her mother would be _ sorely disappointed _ to find out her _ cara figlia _ was letting her no-good husband slap around her grandson! Only reason she hasn’t found out is her being too old to travel and Howard being too much of a coward to face up to his actions! Oh, if I could talk to her now, she’d be _ hearing _ everything I have to say! One immigrant mother to another!”

Peggy laughs, though her voice turns wet shortly before she goes silent again.

“Now, where was I, and nothing about those two again, it’ll ruin my mood!” Ana says, “Ah, yes! That stuff about Stark men being iron is complete _ bollocks_! Your very Father is an asshole and a crybaby and bottling emotions up helps nothing! When you finally follow me to heaven (_and you will go there, darling_) I want to know you lived a good life and treated yourself like you treat everyone and everyone like you treat you! Including Jarvis! If you even _ think _ of playing tough, you’re going to get a right scolding and Ed and Peggy here can _ ensure _ it!”

Jarvis, from behind the camera, chuckles.

“You are as much one of my children as my sisters’ and Jarvis’ brothers are, as much as the other servants’ children are. But it is _ you _ who I’ve seen grow from a small infant into to the grumpy little rascal you are now, you are much more my child than _ hers _ and I am going to have that put on my grave or else I’ll haunt Howie myself!” Ana slaps her knee, “And lastly, I love you! If the woman you marry, the guy you love, _ whoever _ is at your side in future, even so much as _ slaps _ you, I swear to god, I will _ haunt _ them! You have had enough of a toxic life for all eight years I have known you, for however long you will be kept under your asinine father’s thumb! I don’t love Captain America, or Bucky Barnes, or _ any _ of the Howlies your Father so much as compares a _ hair on your head _ to! I love _ YOU _ ! Jarvis loves _ you _ ! Penny loves _ you _ ! Even Nicholas, that young fool, has some feelings for _ you _ and if he ever _ tries anything _ I’m having his hide, dead or not!”

Tony laughs, cheeks already damp.

Ana coughs, a deep, throaty thing.

“Ahh _ hell_, my chest…” she curses, “I think I’ve said enough for today. But don’t forget, alright?”

The camera is covered by Jarvis’ hand, as the video ends.

Tony is a _ mess_, a hand over his mouth as silent tears cover his face.

“Tony?” Pepper asks, as Peter quietly wraps his arms around his mentor and surrogate dad.

A small, broken giggle comes from wet lips.

“I promise,” he says, “Also, Nick’s already tries a few things, he’s gonna die _ again _ if Ana gets to him in the afterlife.”

Peter chuckles.

“So that means me and Spidermom can web him up somewhere, right?”

Tony _ sighs_.

“Nah, after all, he is part of the new SWORD group…”

The final video in the box is a _ mess_.

Tony holds it in his hands for a moment, before sniffing and putting it back in the box.

The others don’t question it.

“Hey, let’s get you to bed,” Natasha says, getting out of her seat.

“What time is it?” Clint asks.

“Four in the morning,” Rhodey says, “Pete’s already out.”

Indeed, leaning against his Dad is a fast asleep spiderboy, mouth open and a thin line of drool going over his chin.

“_Blackmail_!” Scott grins, quickly pulling out his phone and photographing it.

Further talking and moving about occurs, as everyone gets ready for bed and the bots return to their chargers, on low enough battery themselves.

But that isn’t the end of it.

Two nights later, it’s just Rhodey, Steve, Bucky and Peter in front of the telly, Peter holding a new tape, though the casing has been opened and resealed, the tape inside the old, scruffy lot from the broken tape.

There is only one video on it.

Or more, part of a video.

And only _ one person _ need be mentioned to explain _ why_.

It started out like any other, with Jarvis announcing that Tony is now ten years old and starting high school, followed by Jarvis’ complete adoration‒

The door crashes in, followed by an angered “JARVIS! I told you I wanted‒ What the _ fuck _ is this?!”

“Sir! I‒”

“What is this _ bullcrap_?!”

“I was recording, Sir, I wanted to leave something for Tony‒”

Howard is reflected in the mirror, before momentarily coming into shot as the camera is pushed over and onto the floor, cracking and the feed flickering.

“WHAT WOULD BE THE FUCKING POINT! HE CAN GO DIE IN A DITCH, FOR I CARE! HE’S FUCKING USELESS!”

“Sir you can’t _ possibly _mean‒”

“I MEAN _ EVERY DAMN WORD _ ! HE’S A SHUT-IN AND MEEK PIECE OF SHIT! NOW CLEAN THAT UP AND BUY ME MORE FUCKING WHISKEY OR YOU’RE _ FIRED_!”

The sound of the door to Jarvis’ room smashes through the silence left by the furious and drunk adult.

Peter is trembling, as he takes the cassette from the player.

“Give it to me,” Steve snaps.

“What are you going to‒”

Steve holds out a hand.

“I’m going to smash it to pieces,” he replies, voice in a low hiss as Peter gives him the tape, Steve's muscled, anger-strained hand tightening, reducing the tape to pieces in one go, “I wasn’t there before, but I _ will _ stay here _ now_. The Avengers are family, and if we can't save someone, then we'll god damn _Avenge_ them.”


End file.
